Longboat Trip Part 3

Devika Dwivedi
Jul 26, 2019
2 min read

Updated: Sep 19, 2020

This is Part 3 of the longboat blogs. To see Part 2 Click Here.

The next morning, we collected small jellies and ctenophores at the dock and sang goodbye to the island caretakers. With our already exhausted muscles, we slowly rowed out to the sea and caught a convenient current. Moving slowly, the instructors took the opportunity to teach us triangulation, a method of locating your position on a navigational chart.

After mastering the art of triangulation (sort of), both crews raised their sails. With the wind’s help, both crews took turns napping in the sun and finding the triangulation along our course. Ben even found a new species of invertebrate (not really), and we named it the Logelops.

The only dilemma our groups faced was deciding on our destination: Boat Harbor or Saddlebag. There were pros and cons to both destinations. Boat Harbor was closer, had more space and was new and unexplored for our crews, but had no accessible bathroom and everyone would be forced to sleep on the boat. Saddlebag reminded us of traumatic memories, but there were better sleeping and bathroom conditions. The majority of us had voted for Saddlebag the night before, yet there was still a chance that space availability would force us to change courses and camp at Boat Harbor.

Luckily, Saddlebag appeared to have enough space and we were able to make new, drier memories on the island. That night, the entire camp sat around one last campfire and discussed what we appreciated and who we wanted to share the experience with. Afterwards, Ben, Camden, Nick and Miles spotted Bigfoot (Anna) in the dark. We went to sleep sad that our trip was coming to an end, but satisfied with all that we had learned over the past four days.

On the final day of our trip, we set out to the Anacortes Marina. The last miles were hard, but we enjoyed our final hours on the boat. When we arrived in the Marina, we did a deep clean of the boat and all of the gear. It took almost 3 hours to get everything cleaned and put into the vans. We said or final goodbyes to the boat crew and got on the ferry.